Re: Severe Club Foot

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Comments:
: : : : : : I read the archives and did not find anything about the problem of Club feet being as bad as what we are dealing with. We were given a "FREE" horse. He is a 9yr old Bashkir stallion. He is about 300# underweight(His previous owner operated a feed store). This horse was confined to a stall the last 8 years of his life. His off fore hoof is bent under, and he is walking on the front wall of his hoof, from behind you can see the sole of the foot. His ankle on this leg bends foreward. His other front is not real bad. His off rear hoof is also tipped to where he is just walking on the tip of the toe. My farrier is coming to shoe another of our horses, and to look at "Nevada". I do not care if he is ever rideable, butwant to know what any of you think about the possibility of making him comfortable. Or should we put him down. When he does try to move faster than a walk, his tail is up and he will be a beautiful horse with the proper weight. I would just like some opinions on the possibility of keeping him sound enough for a pasture horse. : : : : : : Thank-you : : : : : : Belinda : : : : : : : : : : Belinda, : : : : : Your free horse sounds like he's been avoiding heel pain in that club foot for a long time. It would be wiser to xray that foot to see just what sort of shape the P3 (coffin bone) is in. Then I would have someone familiar with physiologically correct hoof form begin to trim him. You may also need the aid of an Equine Massage Therapist to help get the shoulder muscles relaxed enough to let the DDFT tension change. As it is, or sounds by your description, this horse is extensor bearing and quite likely has an inverted hair line on that foot (heel is higher than the toe). No horse can be comfortable with a shoe being kept with a foot being maintained in this position. It's not natural at all. : : : : : I can imagine the heels of this foot are quite pinched together (contracted) in addition the excess bar and sole material. If he's had to be this way for years then he's also got joint adaptation too. It's a long rehab when the joints, ligaments and muscles have been forced to remain this way for a long time. : : : : : You may want to do a search on barefoot methods by Dr. Hiltrud Strasser to find info on rehabbing a horse like yours. Any method which would keep him in this manner or numb any pain he's feeling will not truly help him get better. If comfort is all you want for him while maintaining his club foot then Strasser's info will be of little use. : : : : : I'm sure this stallion wasn't born this way or he'd probably been gelded long ago and maybe dead already too. So my point is that this condition developed as a result of his living conditions and hoof care, or lack there of. He wasn't born with it so he shouldn't have to stay this way. : : : : : Tree : : : : I have to disagree that a condition this severe may be correctable, especially if the joints have altered over time. I know horses just like this who had YEARS of massage therapy, stretching exercises, acupuncture, barefoot hoof trimming attempting to lower the heels, holistic and homeopathic treatments and still did not ever relax those flexor muscles or release the fused joints and get the heels down. : : : : : : Patty, : : : I don't doubt your experiences. However, if the trimmers do not get down to the pain causing factors (many cases impacted bar material) all of the other homeopathic treatments are wasted. Fused joints are just that. Xrays would indicate if this has taken place or not. : : : : I followed a couple of these types for more than FIVE years and saw no real cure, so don't believe everything that a few folks only a couple of years of hoofcare training claim. Strasser trimmers in the US have at most two years training and for the most part no pevious hoofcare experience) with no pevious hoofcare training. : : : : : : I am not a Strasser trained person and have been at this for over 10 years now. I was introduced to Strasser 3 years ago (May 2000). A horse like this one has nothing to lose except its life. I amazed that someone working on a horse for 5 years (or less) would assume what they were doing was correct. For the past 3 years, I've found it quite frustrating at times to put Strasser's methods into practice. However, through these years I've come to realize MY mistakes in the application of these methods. I would suspect the same of anyone else attempting to use her methods, Certified or not. : : : : As well, I know several *formerly* certified Strasser trimmers who will tell you their with that method were not as successful. I can put you in touch with them personally. : : : : Be VERY cautious. Trust the years of experience of your farrier and vet. Some things this serious are are best 'mamaged' rather than attempting to "fix" . Patty : : : : : : I could probably provide the same only there would be names of those who are still Certified and STILL having success applying these methods. Farriers attempt to "fix" horses daily. Should others not be allowed the same right? Many of these "fixed" horses end up as bio-specimens to be studied by those who want to know more. I do not envy horse owners who are trying to find the best solutions to their horse's problems! There are so many avenues to try. It can be so confusing and heart-wrenching. : : : Tree : : Tree, I just do not want someone to have their hopes raised up in a case this severe. : Patty, : Have you seen this horse in person? I mean, if so and in your opinion it's a hopeless case, I'd understand. However, if you're only basing your opinion on your own experiences without even seeing this horse then how can you presume otherwise? : : : I see untold optimism in the ranks of the barefoot folks, but in reality see (and hear about on the barefoot discussion forums) just as many horses who are still struggling and in pain after a year or two of trimming. : Optimism...I see this not only in the barefoot boards but also in the boards dealing with shoeing methods. Horses are struggling with either. Severe cases must be the ones still struggling after 2 years of trimming. Those are tough cases (and I've been a party to some tough ones). When the horse says it's time to give it up, most people will do so. However, if people recognize a horse's willingness to keep going, they will keep trying for them. : :If youknoe of any actual cases, documented to show that they they were indeed knuckled clear over so they were walking on the front of the hoof then let me know. : Of the knuckled over cases I've dealt with, thanks to a rescue outfit in NC, one was helped into this situation by leaving heels high for fear of the DDFT pulling on the P3's. It was a north GA Hoof Center. The horse started off with low heels (chipped out) and 10" duck billed toe walls (which hadn't chipped off). During that time he was not knuckled over but soon thereafter, due to heel pain, he did. From there those in charge were of the belief he needed a tenotomy before the heels could be lowered. : : : How many cases of 'knuckled over' feet THIS severe have you actually treated, and of those how many came back to walking on the true bottom of their foot after a long term trimming protocol? I certainly have seen a few like this (probably four over the years ) and used various approaches (including barefoot,trimming the capsule to its proper form around the coffin bone). None of the four severe cases recovered to any level of "normal" or sound . One is still here,struggling ,and walks up totally on her toes, with the help of big wedged pads fastened to the bottom of her feet. : I have no idea what sorts of methods the horses you refer to have been subjected to. However, the horse still walking on toe with the aid of wedge pads couldn't walk in any other way, right? : : : Her heels and bars are trimmed down regularly to keep the rear of the foot functioning as much as possible but without the wedge pads on the bottom to reach the ground, there would be NO foot function because the frog could not contact anything for support. If we leave the heel support off, she tips her fetlocks over .With the wedge/support on, she can at least load the heels along with the toe and have a base to stand on. Patty : : This is not a method I would resort to. That's not in question though. As for the poster's horse, I have not seen any photos of it to know how severe its case is. I have not seen any xrays of its clubbed foot to know what's going on with its joints and coffin bone. : Tree